Richard Roberts. 327 



so remarkable in a boy who never was at school that a 

 subscription was got up to give him a tool-chest. With 

 these tools he made another spinning-wheel, inlaid with 

 many woods and said to be a great work of art, in the 

 possession still of some one in that neighbourhood. He 

 went to Bilston, and worked at the works of Mr. John 

 Wilkinson, a man of great skill, we are told, and who 

 made the first iron boat ; Roberts made patterns at these 

 works. He went from place to place, trying to escape 

 being drawn for the Militia, and came to the White Lion 

 Inn, then in Deansgate, seeking for work. There the 

 mechanicians met. Here he got an engagement to turn a 

 lathe, being a strong fellow; but the turner for whom he 

 was to labour did not come as it was blue Monday, and 

 Roberts offered himself for and obtained the higher work. 

 Again in fear of the Militia he went to London, and 

 worked at Maudslay's engineering works, but soon re- 

 turned to Manchester, and started in a small way in Water 

 Street, where his wife turned the lathe. His skill brought 

 favour, and we can do little more now than put down the 

 names of some of the numerous inventions mentioned by 

 Mr. Bailey. The town commissioners requested him to 

 invent a measure for gas, and he did so. Mr. Clegg is 

 generally said to have done this first. 



The slide lathe was invented by Roberts about this 

 time ; then the slotting machine with automatic motion, 

 the bed being adjusted to move in any direction. Then 

 came the planing machine, invented simultaneously by 

 Fox of Derby. He took patents in 1822 for weaving 

 machinery, and in the year after he invented for Mr. Wm. 

 Sharp a reed-making machine, which gave such satisfaction 

 that he was made a partner, and the machine-making 



